As recent user of MS Officer 2013 I was amazed at how poor the UI color scheme was. When I first installed the 2013 suite I thought something had been corrupted or perhaps I was running in safe mode. I attempted to use the various applications but found Outlook to be totally unusable for any period of time.

We develop software products ourselves and the Office 2013 GUI would never have made it through Alpha, it is totally unfit for purpose.

Hey developers, my eyes can't take it any-more. Just installed MS office 2013 and after reading some word documents,my eyes are burning like hell. (and yes my i had set my monitor brightness to loo) This interface has "too" high contrast colours, is there anyway to change the colour scheme? or any dark interface like Photoshop cs6..?

Please...PLEASE...someone tell me there is a way to change the Office 2013 RTM themes beyond just a grey-scale look. All I can see is "White", "Light Grey", and "Dark Grey"...which is equivalent to "Stormtrooper White", Stormtrooper Light Grey", and "Stormtrooper Dark Grey". Did the Adams Family design the Office 2013...because everything looks like a flat-styled death theme compared to Office 2010. I'm quite literally getting eye-strain from it. I can see a headache coming on if I try to use this all day.

Is there some option I'm missing, some third-party add-on, a registry tweak...or ANYTHING that will add a blue, tan, or any other splash of real color to Office 2013? Also, is there some way to add some depth to the slider bars? Everything looks so flat....and dead. I'm working with these tools all day long...and it's like I'm living in a Twilight Zone episode. I feel depressed after using Office 2013.

I have to agree. Been programming and selling computer systems since 1978. I remember my first shipment of IBM PCs. I was selling CP/M machines before then. In any case I also thought, "This is Multimate!" or Volkswriter. This is a throwback to green/amber/paper white monitors. This is horrible. I never thought a visual interface could ruin a product, but this does. It is just unusable. We will be uninstalling it on our test machines and recommending our company does not use it for the time being. Windows 8 is bad enough, but this is too much to take.

Why is the text on the right click menu GREY? I can hardly see it. It should be BLACK. Also I associate grey with being an option that is unavailable so it's just plain wrong as it stands. The lighter shade of grey is almost invisible.

LCD monitors are notoriously bad at displaying subtle shades of grey to the point where this the latest greatest version of office is pretty much useless. JUST WHY? It's not cool to make software this hard to use on a wide range of TN screen which are common place.

Skins limited to 3 shades of grey with no colour customisation. This can't be right in 2013? There is no such thing as MODERN. Repeat NO SUCH THING AS MODERN. We have been modern since art deco in the 1930's and the person who thinks they are doing something trendy new design is just plain wrong. Excel is about productivity and getting work done efficiently and not some stupid fashion statement. Quit being tards and make some high contrast skin that is easier to use.

Spreadsheets are one of the most dull and boring things ever devised yet you managed to make it even more unappealing. That's just funny and given the options available I think google have a chance to catch 90% of office software users.

I just got a brand new computer, wiped it, loaded up Windows 8 RTM and Office 2013. I highly debated going with Windows 7 instead as I'm not a big fan of the Metro interface on a Desktop, but decided I'll give Windows 8 another chance (I had only run the Release Preview previously).

Now that I've got Office 2013 loaded on and opened my email, I'm thinking I would have been better off with my initial inclinations. My eyes are actually pretty good and I usually look at computers all day and have for many years now, but this new Office 2013 scheme is terrible! Even with the dark gray it's not dark enough. Give me a Black or a Blue or something better than this!

First getting rid of the option to turn off transparency in Windows Aero and now my Office looks and feels like crap. Heck, I'll even accept a binary file edit via a HEX Editor to fix it at this point!

It's rare I make a comment in a public forum such as this, but I have to completely agree.

It's pretty bad - and I've been around MS Office products since some of you were still in grammar school.

Have a little insight that many professionals are still going to use workstations/laptops (flat-screens) versus tablets for a couple of years. Trying to keep our customers in mind along with our finances when we recommend/install the products in many businesses. I'm not so certain this feature (lack of) will be a big selling point for us who are promoting and waving our MS flags. Being a consultant, we're working hard to (re)sell the products and grow our installation base.

As a consultant and IT director, I'll simply hold off making any recommendations to my business partners and clients in hopes the interface gets some sort of flexibility introduced into the product for people working in office environments.

Why the heck is such a piss-off to the existing user base needed? What's the goal?

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Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:45:56 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/82e6bf9f756641888978a14f0145bb13#82e6bf9f756641888978a14f0145bb13wastingtimewithforums19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/wastingtimewithforums/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGEIt seems like there was a lot of work done on the animations. They were kind of cool for like five minutes. Then I had to turn them off. You can do this too with win + u, turn off unnecessary animations.

After a while, it seems that changes happen for the sake of change. People complained about the ribbon too. Sure, 2013 is ugly as sin. But hey, so is your mother. (I'm kidding)

I think there was a big scramble, at the end, to get the thing to work on ARM. Many of the resources that would have gone into making a good product when into something that simply worked.

I would wait for SP1 before giving a final verdict. Anyways, it looks better than MapPoint 2009.

-Josh

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Thu, 24 Jan 2013 03:32:26 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/c26ddf06e4c342bfab65a150003a5947#c26ddf06e4c342bfab65a150003a5947Joshua Ross19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/JoshRoss/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGEUnfortunately, MS seems to be allowing their 'consumer' market aspirations compromise their existing business market. They are still not cutting it in the consumer market, but now they are endangering their business market cash-cow. If Ballmer is claiming ownership of this direction, then the board should be looking hard at his tenure.]]>https://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/c3cf119f3eb44171b419a15000496f93#c3cf119f3eb44171b419a15000496f93
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 04:27:22 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/c3cf119f3eb44171b419a15000496f93#c3cf119f3eb44171b419a15000496f93Elmer19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/elmer/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGEHaven't used 2013 often, but, yeah, it does look kinda boring. And the lines are very sharp, which may be the cause of eye sore. And for some odd reason I am only allowed to change the background, not the color.]]>https://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/bc829756e53f4afcb915a15000528008#bc829756e53f4afcb915a15000528008
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 05:00:22 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/bc829756e53f4afcb915a15000528008#bc829756e53f4afcb915a15000528008magicalclick19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/magicalclick/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGEPosting your own negative opinion is one thing, but trawling other boards to collect negative posts with which to spam the board ... ?]]>https://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/a8aa4a69cfe34922bcc8a1500057962c#a8aa4a69cfe34922bcc8a1500057962c
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 05:18:53 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/a8aa4a69cfe34922bcc8a1500057962c#a8aa4a69cfe34922bcc8a1500057962ccontextfree`19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/contextfree`/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGE@contextfree`: +1.

It's like wastingtimewithforums has run out of ideas for criticism and just started looking for other people's criticisms to post instead. Not constructive at all.

Herbie

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Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:19:04 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/52fc947a5e3949c58cfba15000681e3a#52fc947a5e3949c58cfba15000681e3aHerbie Smith19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Dr Herbie/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGEI thought it was refreshing to hear so many people having the same kind of experience that I did with Office 2013. It's like individual groups worked on bits of the app in total isolation and then slammed them together at the last minute. Outlook is especially representative of this.

When people say "this sucks" others ask for proof or try state something to the affect of "we'll that's you're opinion" and infer since they are a troll it doesn't count. Well I think wastingtimewithforums did a pretty good job of pre-empting that sentiment.

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Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:32:43 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/d28684998a314718a818a150006bddcb#d28684998a314718a818a150006bddcbDeathByVisualStudio19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/DeathByVisualStudio/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGE@DeathByVisualStudio: Just saying that something sucks is not constructive criticism. We all occasionally want a rant about something that annoys us, and that's fine, but a constant stream of negativity from the same people gets really poisonous after a while.

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Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:51:53 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/f4c18475e3e44b4687eaa1500115ec14#f4c18475e3e44b4687eaa1500115ec14Harlock123new19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Harlock123new/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGE@Dr Herbie: YAY! I ALSO LIKE SHOUTING! WOOO!]]>https://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/0340d41781f54dc2b50ca150012ac198#0340d41781f54dc2b50ca150012ac198
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:07:44 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/0340d41781f54dc2b50ca150012ac198#0340d41781f54dc2b50ca150012ac198evildictaitor19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/evildictaitor/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGE]]>https://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/b731480ee3fd4f17a264a15001355965#b731480ee3fd4f17a264a15001355965
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:46:18 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/b731480ee3fd4f17a264a15001355965#b731480ee3fd4f17a264a15001355965Joshua Ross19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/JoshRoss/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGE@JoshRoss:LOL @ 0:24]]>https://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/dae1b4fb75f74722a65ea15001365e10#dae1b4fb75f74722a65ea15001365e10
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:50:00 GMThttps://channel9.msdn.com/Forums/Coffeehouse/Office-CARNAGE/dae1b4fb75f74722a65ea15001365e10#dae1b4fb75f74722a65ea15001365e10cbae19https://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/cbae/Discussions/RSSCoffeehouse - Office CARNAGEI think there's definitely potential with the interface, I for one really like the animations (powerpoint slides scaling automatically and smoothly as you resize the window is pretty slick, and frankly the desktop GUI in general for Windows really needs a touch of this smoothness), and some of the design choices are nice. For example, sliding panels in for certain elements as opposed to a separate pop-up window - albeit it's not very consistent. I also really like the dissapearing scroll bars and borderless windows, while that deviates from the Win8 desktop I have no problem with that, as I think the Win8 desktop is horrifically ugly and a big part of that is those ridiculous window borders. Office 2013 gets far closer to the Zune aesthetic than the Win8 desktop does which is a better end goal IMO.

But yes, MS seems to be really on a monochromatic kick with their professional UI's lately, but the problem is deeper - someone at the top needs to be a design czar and have final say in this. MS has always needed this, but especially now if they're going to tout they believe (meaning, we can make $$) about design. I mean really, how does stuff like Visual Studio 2012 get released in that state? Why in the hell did they have to get an avalanche of "WTF?!" feedback to even add a hint of colour in the icons? Colour helps differentiation is a concept that actually needs metrics on for MS to understand it?

The continual "focus on content! focus on content!" is seemingly robotic in that it negates to mention that sometimes that interface needs to be just as discoverable as your content, as in content-creation apps, you don't have content until you're well into creating it. To do that effectively, the interface has to be pleasant to use and look at. For consuming that content once you're in the app, sure - get out of the way until necessary. But for content creation apps, I don't feel the interface should be trying to blend into the background. Don't make it garish and flashy, but make it distinct.

Oh, forgot to add - despite the blinding-white interface, it's really troubling to see another desktop app, like IE10, that's either not using Cleartype at all or using a sub-optimal greyscale version of it so we can accommodate Windows tablets. When 300+ DPI screens are cheap and plentiful I'll understand it, but we're many years away from that. That alone is going to generate a slew of negative feedback from people wondering why their text looks so crappy.